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Apollonius Rhodius

Apollonius Rhodius

c. 295 BCE–c. 215 BCE · Alexandria

Apollonius Rhodius was a Greek epic poet of the 3rd century BCE associated with Alexandria, where he is reported to have served as head of the great Library. He is the author of the 'Argonautica,' the surviving Hellenistic epic on Jason and the Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece, admired for its psychological portrayal of love and its learned style. His connection to Rhodes is reflected in his traditional surname.

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AlexandriaEgypt

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About Alexandria

Alexandria is the main Mediterranean port of northern Egypt and the country's second city. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, it became the capital of the Ptolemies, whose Museum and Great Library made it the leading centre of Hellenistic learning. It also held one of the largest Jewish communities of antiquity, where the Greek Bible translation known as the Septuagint was produced and Philo wrote. Church tradition traces its patriarchate to Mark the Evangelist, and its catechetical school was led by Clement and Origen. Arab forces under Amr ibn al-As took the city in 641, and it remained a commercial and scholarly hub of the Islamic world; the Sufi master Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari was born there.

Across the traditions, in Alexandria at the same time

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In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Apollonius Rhodius’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Apollonius Rhodius’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works(1)